MWC, Conference USA explore joint options

WCC wants BYU for non-football sports

The Mountain West Conference and Conference USA are exploring a possible football championship game between the two leagues and other options that could better position them on the national college football landscape.

Possibilities include having the football champions of each league play each other in the postseason, with the goal of earning a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game.

“The conferences have much in common and have worked cooperatively for many years and we are exploring creative ways to work together going forward,” Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said in a statement. “The discussion included scheduling, television, and post-season football. It is premature for anyone to suggest anything else at this point. We have the strong support of our members as we work on a variety of strategic initiatives. We had a good discussion yesterday and likely will have more in the future.”

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The realignment buzz continues as the MWC awaits word on what will happen with Brigham Young University, which has considered leaving the MWC to go independent in football. As BYU considered its options, the MWC this week added two members for 2011 or 2012: Fresno State and Nevada.

That leaves the MWC with potentially 11 members including BYU.

If BYU stayed, the MWC could add another team to increase its league to 12 members, the minimum necessary to hold a lucrative postseason league championship game.

Meanwhile, BYU’s non-football sports are being coveted by the West Coast Conference, which includes USD. BYU previously considered housing its non-football sports in the Western Athletic Conference, but that was before the MWC raided that league with its acquisition of Fresno State and Nevada, leaving the WAC with just six members and its future uncertain.

“We would indeed be very interested in having BYU as a member of the WCC,” WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said in an e-mail.

The sudden burst of movement among the MWC and the WAC apparently was triggered by BYU’s unhappiness with its TV deal with the MWC.

It’s since become a matter of viability in a college football world dominated by six power conferences: the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, Southeastern, Big East and Atlantic Coast.

By going unaffiliated with any conference in football, BYU would be making a bet that it could make enough money on its own with its own TV network (BYUtv) and not have to share its revenue with conference colleagues.

It’s a possibility that could work for BYU. But it could crush the MWC, which lost another prized member, the University of Utah, with its announcement in June that it would join the Pac-10. Without BYU and Utah, the MWC would lose the Salt Lake City television market (No. 31 in the nation) and possibly lose its chances of earning a lucrative automatic annual berth in the BCS for 2012 and 2013. BCS analyst Jerry Palm said in an e-mail earlier this week that ‘losing BYU is fatal. Fresno and Nevada aren’t much help.”

The MWC added Fresno State and Nevada this week in an apparent counter move to BYU’s possible departure. In response, WAC Commissioner Karl Benson fumed because he said his member schools agreed last week to pay a $5 million penalty if they left the WAC within five years. Nevada President Milt Glick said Wednesday he hoped to negotiate that down.

The MWC also explored the interest of WAC member Utah State, but SDSU Athletic Director Jim Sterk said, as he understood it, there was no official membership offer to Utah State.

A spokeswoman for SDSU President Stephen Weber, a member of the MWC board of directors, said “at this point he’s not able to talk about it.”